Permanent Makeup of Atlanta Goes All Out

Cheryl Rosenblum is anything but your typical tattoo artist. The proprietor of Permanent Makeup of Atlanta is in the business of making people look good, and she has a long list of happy clients that include cancer survivors, accident victims and people whose surgeries have gone awry. Permanent Makeup of Atlanta offers cosmetic tattooing, and Rosenblum’s work includes adding color and definition to lips and eyebrows as well as scar camouflage, areola pigmentation and hair simulation.

While some of her clients simply want to improve their looks with lip or brow tattooing, Rosenblum says that eighty percent of her clients are there because of a traumatic event, such as “if someone’s lost their eyebrows from chemo and you’re able to give them back their eyebrows because they’re so self-conscious about it,” she explains. “For their lips, if they’re abused and their lips are lopsided. With the hair, a man is so self-conscious about that and you can see why he won’t walk around in public. It makes a big difference for them and they’re more appreciative. Most of the people are doing it for a reason.”

Little things like eyebrows can make a huge difference, and Rosenblum recalls a client who got a healthy dose of self-confidence along with her new brows. “One lady, she got into a wreck and she used to be really pretty, but it scarred her brows up and knocked them all off. She got so depressed that she gained a hundred pounds. Then she came in here and had her brows done. It looked so good and lifted her spirits so much that the next time I saw here she had lost 70 pounds.”

Cosmetic tattooing is a small industry in Atlanta, and Rosenblum stresses the importance of choosing an artist who has the right credentials, plenty of experience and, above all, happy customers.

One of the aspects of Permanent Makeup of Atlanta that sets it apart is Rosenblum’s method. Rosenblum is the only local cosmetic tattoo artist who does her work by hand. “It’s a night and day difference doing it by hand versus by a machine,” says Rosenblum, who is Board Certified by the American Academy of Micropigmentation and has her tattoo license. “I use more acupuncture needles and they’re much smaller. Other people who do it by hand use big needles.”

Among her specialties is hair recreation and scar camouflage. Those skills are put to use on men who have tried to battle hair loss by getting transplants, a process that can leave disfiguring scars. Luckily, Rosenblum is skilled at not only covering the scars, but she can also do delicate micro-tattooing that simulates hair.

As a result, Rosenblum has plenty of clients who come to her as an alternative to hair transplants, including women. “A lot of African-American women have thin spots on their head, and (cosmetic tattooing) is really popular. It’s undetectable if you do it right,” says Rosenblum. “For guys, it’s a good alternative to hair transplants, especially if you just have a couple of bald spots. You’d be surprised how many guys wear makeup on their heads (to cover the bald patches), but they get tired of that.”

Rosenblum also does scar camouflaging on women who have had mastectomies or breast augmentation that has left scarring. Areola pigmentation is another service offered to help women who have had mastectomies regain their natural look and self-confidence.

Located in Buckhead, Permanent Makeup of Atlanta is in a charming shop called All About You, where Rosenblum has plied her trade for seven years. All About You looks like the quintessential beauty salon and in fact houses a full-service hair salon. The intimate interior has an elegant air with touches of gold and high ceilings decorated with murals of cherubs frolicking against a blue sky. A private area with a reclining chair is where Rosenblum plies her trade, giving clients a relaxed, comfortable environment.

The name All About You is a tribute to Lynda Duncan, the original owner of the shop and a woman that Rosenblum recalls fondly. She explains that “originally I was next door, and I got to know the owner here and ended up leasing the (tattooing) space from her. We worked together for two or three years. Lynda was here for 15 or 20 years, and she had her apprentice, Hannah Preston. It was an old style salon, with chocolates and coffee. She had thyroid cancer and she ended up passing away. Her family, rather than selling the place, decided to leave the place as-is and Hannah and I took over the shop. Everything in here is exactly the same. We still have the chocolates, and you don’t drink out of a paper cup; it has to be crystal. There were things she did that we still do.”

Permanent Makeup of Atlanta is located at All About You in the Paces Ferry Place shopping center near the corner of Paces Ferry Place and Paces Ferry Road. Their website, www.permanentmakeupofatlanta.com, has plenty of “before and after” pictures that show just what cosmetic tattooing can do. Rosenblum also encourages potential clients to come by the shop for a free consultation, and to watch her perform a procedure. Permanent Makeup of Atlanta can be reached at 404-229-7372.